submarines in ur base, wiretapping ur fibre optic cables

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:22 am

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001397.html

The rumors are that the Navy's newest nuclear sub, the USS Jimmy Carter, has been designed for spywork, with a \"special capability... to tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them,\" according to the AP.

The rumors are right, Military.com's undersea warfare experts believe.

...continues...

o_O tapping deepsea fibre optic cables, wtf ppl.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:48 am

more

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5298 ... egacy=zdnn

In the mid-1990s, the NSA installed one such tap, say former intelligence officials familiar with the covert project. Using a special spy submarine, they say, agency personnel descended hundreds of feet into one of the oceans and sliced into a fiber-optic cable. The mixed results of the experiment--particularly the agency's inability to make sense of the vast flood of data unleashed by the tap--show that America's pre-eminent spy service has huge challenges to overcome if it hopes to keep from going deaf in the digital age.

Details of the NSA cable-tapping project are sketchy. Individuals who confirm the tap won't specify where or when it occurred. It isn't known whether the cable's operator detected the intrusion, though former NSA officials say they believe it went unnoticed. Nor is it known whether the NSA has attempted other taps since. Efforts to intercept all sorts of signals--ranging from military radar to international phone calls--are among the most highly classified U.S. government operations. Leaking information about interception methods is a federal crime punishable by imprisonment.

...continues...

thought the last quoted (bolded) sentance was particularly interesting, as i wonder if a government run by corporate interest insiders can tell the difference between state spying and corporate spying.

Always nice to know that it's illegal for someone to truthfully answer that question. not

Undersea taps would pose tricky legal issues for the agency, too. For example, U.S. law forbids the NSA to intentionally intercept and process the phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without court approval. Such communications make up a sizable slice of undersea cable traffic.

haha, can you tell when this article was written?

TIGERassault · Post by **TIGERassault** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:58 am

Hmm...
I wonder how this will turn out...

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:05 am

honestly, i think the cable companys should defend their cables with armaments if this is what's going to happen. have little automated torpedo-shooting robots scouring the cables for spy subs and sabotaurs.

they (the cable companys) are well within their right to, no?

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 11:37 am

roid wrote:honestly, i think the cable companys should defend their cables with armaments if this is what's going to happen. have little automated torpedo-shooting robots scouring the cables for spy subs and sabotaurs.

they (the cable companys) are well within their right to, no?

But I thought you said the government was run by the corporations? So they would just be torpedoing their own submarines wouldn't they? Sounds like it's nothing but an intra-corporate power struggle so let the board of directors sort it out and you just cash your dividend checks and shut up!

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:17 pm

regardless of whether Congress is beholden to corporations... it's doubtful any military submarine would engage in corporate espionage. And yes, it is illegal to leak classified information, regardless of what it's about (though certain groups seem to think it's OK as long as they're the ones doing the leaking.)

I guess I can rest easier now, knowing the USS Jimmy Carter is a spy sub rather than an attack sub. \"The attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter\" is wrong on so many levels.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:52 pm

If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.

Oh, but then again, we're all pirates on the high seas of Bit Torrent or eDonkey, so I suspect we should be prepared to have our Fibre To The Door boarded and searched...

Shadowfury333 · Post by **Shadowfury333** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 6:52 pm

Mobius wrote:If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.

But can't politicians (and presumably the corporations to which they are supposedly beholden) arbitrarily change what "wrong" is?

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:33 pm

Will Robinson wrote:But I thought you said the government was run by the corporations? So they would just be torpedoing their own submarines wouldn't they? Sounds like it's nothing but an intra-corporate power struggle so let the board of directors sort it out and you just cash your dividend checks and shut up!

lothar wrote:I guess I can rest easier now, knowing the USS Jimmy Carter is a spy sub rather than an attack sub. "The attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter" is wrong on so many levels.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:30 pm

Will Robinson wrote:
roid wrote:honestly, i think the cable companys should defend their cables with armaments if this is what's going to happen. have little automated torpedo-shooting robots scouring the cables for spy subs and sabotaurs.

they (the cable companys) are well within their right to, no?
But I thought you said the government was run by the corporations?

corporations all use "the man" to get what they want. But there is still in-fighting which introduces cracks into their playing field, we are the bacteria living in those cracks.
it's a strange ecology, we breathe through the small fleeting gaps inbetween monopolys. so in-fighting is good coz it keeps them from properly micromanaging their livestock - us. So the slaves can live a little.